The present invention relates to an apparatus for playing back a video signal such as a video cassette recorder (hereinafter, referred to simply as a VCR), and particularly to a technique for searching a recording medium, normally a magnetic recording tape, for a point of interest on the downstream side of the present point in a playback operation.
When the user plays back a program of a television broadcast recorded in a VCR and takes enjoyment in it, in some cases, the user searches the recording medium for a point of interest on the downstream side of the present position at a high speed in a playback operation in order to play back the program starting from the point of interest. Such a search is done for example to watch the program by skipping commercials or the user wants to search the program for a goal scene in a soccer game.
The operation to search the recording medium for a point of interest is carried out by first continuously pressing a cue (fast playback) button and then, when the point of interest has been reached, releasing the cue button. At that time, since the point searched for is usually passed, a review (rewind-playback) button is pressed continuously till a point before the searched point is reached. At this point, the review button is released to get in a PB (normal playback) state in which the program is reproduced starting from the point of interest.
As another technique for carrying out an operation to search the recording medium for a point of interest, a VCR may be provided with a skip button. Pressing the skip button will put the VCR in a cue state and pressing the skip button for a second time will allow a program to be reviewed for a fixed period of time. In the case of such a VCR, the user presses the skip button once to put the VCR in a skip-cue state then, as the point being searched for has been reached, the skip button is pressed for a second time to review the program. In this way, a point of interest can be played back.
In the technique of operation pressing the cue and review buttons one after another, it is necessary to operate the two buttons. In order to press one of the buttons, it is necessary for the user to look at the button. As a result, it is difficult for the user to concentrate the attention thereof on a point being searched for.
In the technique of operation pressing only the skip button twice, on the other hand, the length of the time for reviewing a program is fixed. As a result, it is impossible to set a period of review time desired by the user.